Mike Yenni won 22 of 36 precincts to become Kenner's next mayor

Sometime after Mike Yenni became chief administrator for Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz in 2006, he showed his mother the wall of portraits outside the mayor's office. Wouldn't it be something, he told her, if his portrait was someday placed "under Paw Paw and next to Ed."

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneMayor-elect Mike Yenni at Kenner City Hall with a photo of his grandfather Joe Yenni who was also a mayor of Kenner

On Saturday, Yenni earned the right to hang his picture with those of Muniz and Joe Yenni, his grandfather, when he captured 57 percent of the vote to defeat former Mayor Phil Capitano for the city's top job.

Yenni prevailed in 22 of the city's 36 precincts, polling especially well in areas predominantly white and predominantly Republican. Both candidates are white Republicans.

On Monday, the mayor-elect took a drug test and physical examination in anticipation of returning as Muniz's chief administrative officer on Tuesday. He had resigned the job in February to run for mayor.

An analysis of Saturday's election found that the results of the Yenni-Capitano election were similar to those of four years ago, when Muniz beat Capitano in a runoff by 58 percent to 42 percent.

Capitano again swept the 1st City Council District in south Kenner and the Lincoln Manor and University City subdivisions. Just as Muniz did, Yenni easily captured most north Kenner precincts, including the Chateau Estates, Woodlake and Driftwood Park subdivisions.

Overall voter turnout Saturday was 29 percent, but with wide variations by party and race. Political scientist Edward Chervenak of the University of New Orleans said 40 percent of Republican voters cast ballots, while 23 percent of independents and only 10 percent of Democrats showed up at the polls.

Yenni collected 81 percent of the Republican vote but only 10 percent of the Democratic vote and 12 percent of the independents, Chervenak said.

Yenni received 68 percent of the white vote, 20 percent of the non-black minority vote and 10 percent of the black vote, Chervenak said.

Yenni said he will work hard to reach out to all residents.

"I'm the mayor for every citizen in this city," he said.

Yenni said he likely will set up a small transition team of people outside of government to see whether changes are recommended. But he won't make the top-level staffing changes that are normal when a new mayor takes office.

"I like the people we have in place," Yenni said, adding that the current directors are those he helped hire three years ago when Muniz took office.

Mike Quigley, deputy CAO under Muniz, likely will take over as Yenni's chief administrator.

Yenni will be heading back to work this week just as City Hall is in the midst of drafting the budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which begins July 1. With the budget so dependent on sales taxes, which have been down for the past 1-1/2 years, Yenni said he faces a challenge.

"I really didn't expect January's numbers to be as bad as December's," he said, adding that both months of sales tax figures came in more than $400,000 lower than projected.

He said he wants to continue Muniz's plan to improve the city's beleaguered sewerage system and properly fund the Police and Fire departments.

Yenni's grandfather served as Kenner mayor from 1970 to 1980, when he became Jefferson Parish president. Joe Yenni's son, also named Mike Yenni, took over as parish president when Joe Yenni died in office in 1987 and served as president until 1995, when he, too, died in office.

The mayor-elect said that when he was knocking doors during the campaign this year, he heard many stories revering his grandfather and uncle.

"I've spent my life listening to that," he said of his relatives' good government background. "I don't want to do anything to tarnish that reputation. That's why I want to continue it."